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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30073455">Reki and Langa Are Just Friends (Maybe)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurapikas_chains/pseuds/kurapikas_chains'>kurapikas_chains</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>SK8 the Infinity (Anime)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Universe, Confessions, Crushes, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Kyan Reki, Pining, canon events are referenced but not retold, sorta stupid kyan reki</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:07:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,579</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30073455</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurapikas_chains/pseuds/kurapikas_chains</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Langa got confessions quite regularly. Reki wasn’t quite sure why that bothered him.</p><p>At least not until he overheard someone ask Langa if he was dating Reki - and Langa didn’t deny it. </p><p>What follows is the rollercoaster of realizing you might just be in love with your best friend - your best friend who is using you as an excuse to reject other people.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1008</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Reki and Langa Are Just Friends (Maybe)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hi sk8 fandom</p><p>i hope this is up to par! i haven’t read many sk8 fics yet, but the ones i have read have been amazing, and i hope do these dumb boys justice. </p><p>enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Kyan Reki had never been confessed to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ever. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not unless you counted a fake marriage in early primary school with a girl who’d made him kiss a bug she’d found instead of her - which Reki usually just tried to forget. But, other than that, no confessions, no love letters, no nothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which was… It wasn't </span>
  <em>
    <span>great, </span>
  </em>
  <span>you know, it would certainly be a nice confidence boost to know that someone thought of him that way, or that someone thought he was cool enough to spend time with. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But, he didn’t need that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki had skating. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And what would be the point of dedicating all that time to one person, if they weren’t going to help him improve, or, at the very least, cheer him on? No one at school understood skating. Not like Reki did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At least, not until Langa.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Langa </span>
  </em>
  <span>understood why he liked to skate so much. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Langa</span>
  </em>
  <span> thought he was cool. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Langa </span>
  </em>
  <span>enjoyed spending time with him. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Langa- </span>
  </em>
  <span>Well, Langa didn’t think of him </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>way, but he was a good friend nonetheless. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Who needed a girlfriend, someone fussy and probably clingy and far too unknowledgeable about skating, when he had Langa? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>...Which wasn’t as gay as it sounded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Probably. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Moral of the story, Reki had never received a confession, and that didn’t bother him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa, on the other hand…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was a transfer student from Canada, he skateboarded (he was good, too), and he was polite and smart. It was open season for the kids of their school, really. Not to mention that he was very good looking (objectively), his hair seemed really, really soft (also objectively), and how his eyes sparkled when they caught the sunlight at just the right angle, making him seem </span>
  <em>
    <span>alive </span>
  </em>
  <span>in a way that wasn’t quite explainable. (Once more, completely objectively). </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa probably fielded a confession a day. Maybe even two or three, if the girls (or guys) were feeling particularly confident. His record was five, something Reki had teased him mercilessly about, all the while trying to ignore the strange sinking feeling in his gut that wouldn’t go away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was something achingly close to jealousy - but he wasn’t jealous. He wasn’t lying when he said he didn’t care for confessions. The thought of those awkward silences and terribly cringeworthy declarations of… passion… Let’s just say that they didn’t suit Reki in the slightest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, no. Reki definitely wasn’t jealous that Langa had to deal with that daily. Except that he was, for some reason. He really, </span>
  <em>
    <span>really was. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Which was incredibly confusing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But now was not the time for that. Now was lunch, and lunch meant skateboarding in the quad, and skateboarding in the quad meant time with Langa- </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa, who was currently being confessed to in their meet-up spot on the roof. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Great. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Absolutely wonderful. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There it was again - that nauseating not-jealousy in his gut, turning his stomach and bringing an awful heat to the back of his neck. It was worse when it was guys doing the confessing, which Reki didn’t quite get. He liked girls, didn’t he? He was supposed to, anyway, even if he actually liked skating more. So, logically, the </span>
  <em>
    <span>girls </span>
  </em>
  <span>should be making him feel more not-jealous. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the sight of this upperclassman </span>
  <em>
    <span>(an upperclassman?!) </span>
  </em>
  <span>standing over Langa, leaning down to flick an errant strand of hair off of his face, letting his hand linger for just a moment too long - it made Reki feel like throwing up. Or punching a wall. Maybe both. Preferably both. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Much as he was loath to admit it, it reminded him of Adam. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Screw the wall - Reki wanted to punch </span>
  <em>
    <span>Adam </span>
  </em>
  <span>instead. That would probably make him feel better about a lot of things. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe assault charges wouldn’t actually be better in the long run, but damn would it feel good.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Adam wasn’t here. Instead, it was Upperclassman Guy and his well fitted uniform and his perfectly coiffed hair. Not to mention that he just looked like he had a major stick up his ass - totally wrong for Langa. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not that Reki had given any thought to what might be </span>
  <em>
    <span>right </span>
  </em>
  <span>for Langa. (If he had, the answer would be someone upbeat and passionate about things, who was always ready with a joke and was willing to be patient if Langa needed them to be. Not too wild, but not too straight edged, either. But Reki hadn’t thought about it, of course.) </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now, staring at them from across the rooftop, Reki couldn’t help it - he wanted to hear what they were saying. It was just natural curiosity! He wanted to know what Langa was telling him that was making this upperclassman chuckle like that, like the funniest joke in the world had been told. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, Reki snuck. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Perhaps </span>
  <em>
    <span>sneaking </span>
  </em>
  <span>wasn’t the best word. It was really just walking very quietly along the wall until he was close enough to pick up on what they were saying. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“C’mon, Canada,” the upperclassman was saying. And, really, </span>
  <em>
    <span>nicknames already? </span>
  </em>
  <span>Wasn't that moving a bit fast? “Can you at least tell me why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki watched as Langa just turned his head, averting his gaze to the ground. Judging by the uncomfortable expression he was wearing, the rejection had already occurred. So why wasn’t this guy leaving? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s him, isn’t it,” Upperclassman Guy said after a moment. “Your skateboarding friend. You two are…” He trailed off, but the unspoken words hung heavy in the air. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>What was he going to say? </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Together? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Involved? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Dating? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki bit back a snort. Of course they weren’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>dating. </span>
  </em>
  <span>They were just… skateboarding buddies. Platonic skateboarding buddies, who hung out sometimes and sat next to each other in class. Maybe even best friends, who were also skateboarding buddies. Langa would say as much, and Upperclassman Guy would move on, and Reki and Langa would finally get to skating before the lunch bell rang. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa would say that they were just friends. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa would… say that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Any second now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Any second. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was just building up the courage. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And he would say it… now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>…Now? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I knew it. I really… I should have known,” Upperclassman Guy said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sorry for bothering you, then. I hope you guys… I hope you’re happy together.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa just </span>
  <em>
    <span>nodded, </span>
  </em>
  <span>in </span>
  <em>
    <span>agreement, </span>
  </em>
  <span>still staring down at the ground as his upperclassman admirer gave him one last look before turning around and walking away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>What was </span>
  <em>
    <span>happening? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa had been confessed to. The guy had insinuated that Reki and Langa were… together. And Langa had… </span>
  <em>
    <span>agreed? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>And now, Langa was just standing there, one foot on his skateboard, pushing it back and forth on the ground like some sort of depressed metronome. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Reki…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki couldn’t do this. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pivoted on his heel, turning away from Langa and confessions and stupid upperclassman who had </span>
  <em>
    <span>no idea </span>
  </em>
  <span>what they were talking about and stoutly marched away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>What did that guy know? He wasn’t a master of relationships or anything. He didn’t know Reki, and he barely knew Langa, for that matter, so really, he shouldn’t have any kind of say in what romantic feelings that they might have for each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which they didn’t have. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d been stomping away angrily for probably a full minute when he realized he had no idea where he was going. He couldn’t just leave the school - his mother would be furious if she’d found out he’d skipped class. But he certainly couldn’t go back </span>
  <em>
    <span>there. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>And yet, he felt guilty. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was ditching their standing lunch date - no, no, not a </span>
  <em>
    <span>date, </span>
  </em>
  <span>standing lunch </span>
  <em>
    <span>hangout </span>
  </em>
  <span>- without so much of a word of explanation. ‘Abandonment’ was the word that came to mind, even if that seemed a little dramatic. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Reki wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>abandoning </span>
  </em>
  <span>Langa, he just needed time to process. Process… things. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>What those things were, Reki had no clue, but he definitely needed to process them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a moment of silent deliberation, he pulled his phone out, shooting a text to the most recent contact on his phone. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>To: Langa :P</b>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>sensei is keeping me late to go over a test. i’ll probably miss lunch. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There. Text sent. Guilt, be gone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The guilt was not gone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because now, he’d </span>
  <em>
    <span>lied </span>
  </em>
  <span>to Langa. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t like he’d never lied before. He was a teenage boy, after all. He told his mom that his teachers had just misplaced his essay, and he’d told Manager Oka that that package of glass breakables had shown up broken, and he’d looked Shadow in the eye and said that he wasn’t afraid. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki wouldn’t go as far as to say he was a pathological liar or anything that drastic, but he certainly wasn’t a saint. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So why did lying to Langa make him feel like his chest was being squeezed by a boa constrictor?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The phone buzzed in Reki’s hand, making him jump. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>From: Langa :P</b>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m sorry to hear that. I will practice the new trick Miya told us about and show you my progress after school. Good luck on your test!</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Damn it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Why was Langa so…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So </span>
  <em>
    <span>Langa?! </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>With a huff, Reki leaned until his back hit the brick wall behind him, sliding down until he could tuck his knees up to his chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe he was reading too much into things. That was probably it. He’d only come in halfway through the confession anyways - maybe he’d missed something that would put Langa’s damning nods into perspective. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But what else could it be? </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It’s him, isn’t it. Your skateboarding friend. You two are…</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Are dating?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No, no they weren’t. They just hung out every day after school, and skated together, and talked about deep stuff, and… </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And would dating even be that bad?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What did a relationship have that a friendship didn’t? Kissing. Cuddling. Making weird goo-goo eyes at each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Objectively, it didn’t seem so great. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But with Langa, could it...?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No! No, no, no, it was a stupid thing to think. That path was not one that Reki wanted to go down. He wouldn’t think about doing… relationship stuff with </span>
  <em>
    <span>Langa, </span>
  </em>
  <span>of all people. Langa was his best friend. Nothing more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The more Reki thought about it, the more certain he was that he was missing something. Maybe Langa just… didn’t want to speak. Maybe he was just letting Upperclassman Guy draw his own conclusions, and not confirming or denying anything, just to be safe. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was probably it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was </span>
  <em>
    <span>definitely </span>
  </em>
  <span>it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa and Reki were best friends. That was good, that was </span>
  <em>
    <span>known. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It was… comfortable. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And so it would stay that way. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>—————</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Reki didn’t think about what he had dubbed ‘The Confession’ (different from ‘a confession’, this one was capitalized) for a while. In fact, he was rather successful in pushing those weird feelings down and just concentrating on skating and their friendship, if he did say so himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Whatever Upperclassman Guy believed was the reason Langa had rejected him, he didn’t go spreading it around, much to Reki’s relief. He was still… thinking through a lot of stuff, and if he’d had to deal with errant stares and judging whispers on top of it all, he might have snapped. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But, as it was, it was almost </span>
  <em>
    <span>easy </span>
  </em>
  <span>to ignore. Reki just pushed all thoughts of him and Langa in any sort of romantic context firmly out of his mind. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was, until an uneventful Thursday afternoon a few weeks later. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were skating back to Reki’s house from the nearby convenience store, unhealthy snacks in hand, when Langa absolutely </span>
  <em>
    <span>biffed it, </span>
  </em>
  <span>crashing headfirst into the concrete in a way he hadn’t since he’d first started skating. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“H-Holy shit! Langa!” Reki cried out, jerking to a stop and scrambling back to where Langa was splayed out on the concrete. “What the hell happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa groaned, throwing an arm over his face and contorting, but Reki could tell that it was less out of pain, and more out of annoyance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hnnngh,” Langa replied, his lip curling up in distaste. Reki crouched over his head, gently pulling his arm from where it rested over his eyes, revealing bright blue squinting up at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>His eyes are beautiful. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>And - </span>
  <em>
    <span>whoa, </span>
  </em>
  <span>where did </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>come from?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t like that wasn’t true - you know, objectively. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki shook his head, snapping himself out of it. Langa cocked an eyebrow from beneath him, as if Reki was the one who’d wiped out on smooth concrete. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ve been out of it all day,” Reki said, just shy of scolding. His hand was still wrapped around Langa’s slim wrist. He didn’t let go. “What’s up?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I forgot my essay until last night,” Langa said simply, still gazing up at him. “I had to stay up writing it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki’s eyes widened. “We were out til like- like </span>
  <em>
    <span>one in the morning! </span>
  </em>
  <span>Why didn’t you say something, we could have gone home!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa huffed, looking away and sticking his lower lip out in a pout. “I was having fun. Weren’t you?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki sighed, rocking back on his heels. “Of </span>
  <em>
    <span>course </span>
  </em>
  <span>I was having fun, idiot. We were </span>
  <em>
    <span>skating. </span>
  </em>
  <span>But we have fun every night! I don’t want to be the reason you flunk out of school! I don’t want your mom to think I’m a bad influence.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa looked back at him dubiously. From this angle, he was looking up at Reki from through his lashes - long, dark lashes that framed that dazzling blue-</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Seriously,</span>
  </em>
  <span> what was </span>
  <em>
    <span>happening </span>
  </em>
  <span>to him?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re the reason I’ve run away from the cops - like, a dozen times,” Langa replied. “I don’t think you can be much worse of an influence. Besides, I got the essay done, didn’t I?”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know, did you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa sighed, rolling up into a regular sitting position. His wrist slipped out of Reki’s grasp easily. “I did.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.” Reki watched, still crouched, as Langa stood, brushing dirt off of his pants and straightening his shirt out. “Just… don’t let it happen again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you, my mom?” Langa teased and he reached for his board that had rolled a few feet away after his crash. Reki just scowled. When Langa turned back, the vexing look on his face had faded, replaced with an almost… </span>
  <em>
    <span>fond </span>
  </em>
  <span>expression. Reki ignored the way it made his stomach flip flop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, Reki. I’m just a little tired, is all. I’m fine. I didn’t even draw any blood, see?” He said, holding his hands out as evidence. “You worry too much, sometimes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki frowned, reaching out and clasping one of Langa’s outstretched hands and pulling himself back to standing. “Forgive me for wanting to know why my best friend collapsed in the middle of the street.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t- I didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>collapse,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Langa protested. “You make me sound like a fainting maiden!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki cackled, already pushing off on his board and skating away. Langa’s sound of protest followed him, and the harmony of a second board against the street quickly joined the melody of his own. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The rest of the journey passed quietly, save for Reki nearly wiping out when he swerved too sharply trying to avoid an errant squirrel. Despite being the one who’d fallen first, Langa’s laughter didn’t fully stop until they were pulling up to Reki’s house. His mother waved at him from the front window, smiling widely when she spotted Langa at his side. Reki didn’t know why she got so excited every time she saw him - he came over practically every day, and if he didn’t, it was because Reki was at his house. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m home!” Reki called out as he opened the door, letting Langa in behind him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pardon the intrusion,” Langa said, his voice much quieter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki’s mother bustled into the entryway, lightly smacking Langa’s arm with the dish towel she was carrying. “What have I told you? No need for such stern manners here,” she said warmly, smiling down at him as he pulled off his shoes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa bowed his head, and Reki could see the telltale signs of a blush starting on the back of his neck. With a smile to his mother, he grabbed Langa and towed him down the hall, unceremoniously tossing him into the bedroom and closing the door behind them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I never know when to use these Japanese manners,” Langa complained, flopping head first on the bed. “I just barely learned them, and now I’m not supposed to use them anymore?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He groaned, picking his head up and dropping it back onto the duvet. Reki chuckled as he pulled the most recent delivery of his skating magazine, tossing over to land on Langa’s back, where his shirt had ridden up just slightly, exposing a sliver of pale, smooth skin, that-</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Again? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki squeezed his eyes shut and didn’t open them until he heard Langa shifting around on the bed. He cracked one eye open to see that Langa had flipped over, and was now lounging casually on his back, flipping through the magazine. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Okay. Okay, this was fine. He wasn’t used to it, sure, it wasn’t something that he’d gone through before. But he could manage. He could deal with finding his best friend… attractive. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But that was all! That was what these little moments were adding up together weren’t they? Reki just objectively found Langa to be an attractive person, and it was a little distracting at times. But that was as far as it went. He didn’t have any… </span>
  <em>
    <span>feelings </span>
  </em>
  <span>for Langa. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His </span>
  <em>
    <span>feelings </span>
  </em>
  <span>were for skateboarding. Well - that sounded a bit weird. But it was true enough. Skating was what made his heart pound, what made his chest clench, what made his blood rush with euphoria. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t like he felt those things for Langa. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unless you counted how his heart sped when Langa sent him that soft, proud smile. Or how his chest tightened when Langa grabbed his hand to show him something or take him somewhere. Or how his blood seemed to sing Langa’s name whenever he was nearby. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe he should count those…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Reki! Come check this interview out,” Langa said, pointing at the page he was reading. Reki blinked, still reeling from his recent maybe-discoveries. He just stared, watching as a breeze from the open window tousled Langa’s hair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“...Reki? Are you alright?” Langa asked slowly, setting the magazine down on his lap and looking at him with soft eyes. Reki jolted, plastering on a grin that he could tell didn’t quite reach his eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I’m great! Sorry, just… zoned out there, for a sec,” he said, injecting his voice with as much cheer as he could. Langa furrowed his brows and tracked his movements carefully, his eyes never leaving Reki’s face as he walked over, peering over to look at the page Langa had been pointing to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t read upside down,” Langa pointed out, making Reki flush. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I know that!” He protested, crossing his arms over his chest tightly. “It was a… a perfunctory glance!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa just eyed him wearily, and Reki accepted defeat, collapsing heavily onto the bed next to him. Langa didn’t let his gaze of thinly-veiled worry down for a second, sending him glances out of the corner of his eye every now and again as they flipped through the magazine together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki leaned over and flipped to a new page as Langa yawned widely at his side. He didn’t think much of it when Langa stopped reaching over to flip the pages, just assuming that he was letting Reki read at his own pace. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That was until a head dropped heavily onto Reki’s shoulder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki immediately stiffened, risking a sidelong glance to see Langa, sound asleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sound asleep </span>
  <em>
    <span>on Reki’s shoulder. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>What was he supposed to do in this situation? It wasn’t like he was opposed to physical intimacy - he was just usually the one initiating it. Langa obliged his fist bumps and high fives and all that, but he wasn’t the type to lean in and rest his head on someone’s shoulder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Until </span>
  <em>
    <span>now, </span>
  </em>
  <span>at least. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t that it was a bad feeling, either. It was actually quite nice, the steady weight of another person at his side. It was very… intimate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh, no. No, intimate wasn’t a very good word choice, because </span>
  <em>
    <span>intimate </span>
  </em>
  <span>meant </span>
  <em>
    <span>relationship. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Unbidden, The Confession flashed through Reki’s mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It’s him, isn’t it. Your skateboarding friend. You two are…</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, right now it certainly </span>
  <em>
    <span>felt </span>
  </em>
  <span>like they were. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But… they weren’t. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Why did that feel so disappointing?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Langa would have told him if he felt that way. If he felt for Reki something… more than friendship. Something more than just platonic. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The way Reki was starting to think he might feel for Langa.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And honestly - how couldn’t he? Langa was - </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, Langa was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Langa. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He was smart and kind and witty. He skated like some sort of god and had a competitive streak a mile wide. He always pet stray cats that he saw on the side of the road, even if he was running late for school. He listened to Reki when he started rambling about this or that, and he never made him feel bad for talking too much or too loudly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was… Langa. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>How was Reki </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>supposed to fall in love with that? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>—————</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Life after The Revelation (yes, once again, capitalized) wasn’t drastically different than life before it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki and Langa still ate lunch together and sat at desks next to each other and skated until the sun went down every night. Langa still came over to Reki’s house and insisted on being overly polite. Reki still went over to Langa’s house and complimented his mother’s cooking, even though she always burned the fish. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Life was entirely the same, and also completely and utterly changed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, it wasn’t just skating. It was skating-and-Langa.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The adrenaline high of a railslide showed up when Langa asked him how he slept. The pounding of his heart that accompanied a race well run seemed to start up every time Langa did that thing where he pulled his bottom lip between his teeth while he was thinking hard about something. The love, the </span>
  <em>
    <span>passion </span>
  </em>
  <span>that Reki felt for skating, it was what he’d started to feel for Langa. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He felt about Langa how he felt about skating. Simple as that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well - not quite as simple as that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was still the matter of things being a bit awkward - Reki got caught staring every now and again, and saying that there was a bug on Langa’s shoulder only worked the first few times. But other than that, things were fairly… normal, outside of the shitshow of emotions in Reki’s mind. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Take lunch, for example. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lunch was still a time for skating, for laughing and talking and stealing off of each other’s chopsticks. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But, it was also still a time for confessions. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki was a mere ten steps away from Langa when the girl from their class ran up to him. The rooftop was empty other than them - thought, it was pretty secluded anyways. Not many kids came up, and even fewer stayed to eat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This girl was here with a purpose. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was cute, sure. In a childish, youthful sort of way. She had short hair with a bow in it, and she always wore stockings with ribbons on them. Reki had never had a reason to dislike her before. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now, though, he sort of wanted to run her over with his skateboard. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“L-Langa-kun, I wanted to talk to you,” she said, her voice simpering and sickly sweet. Reki rolled his eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello,” Langa greeted plainly. He was facing away from Reki, but from the tone of his voice, he seemed almost… bored. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve been seeing you in class recently,” she said, giving him a sweet smile. “And I wanted to say that I think you’re really cool.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki’s stomach twisted, but he had it admit that it was somewhat better to know exactly why his gut churned when Langa was confessed to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was jealousy - just not the kind he’d thought. He wasn’t jealous that Langa was more popular than him. No, Reki really couldn’t care less about that. He was jealous that it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>Langa </span>
  </em>
  <span>that they were all looking up to with hearts in their eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It didn’t matter that Langa had been uninterested thus far. The ever present worry was always there. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What if this time, he says yes?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” Langa replied dryly. The girl’s expression flickered for a moment, but she kept going. Reki stared down at the ground, digging the toe of his shoe into the dirt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“W-Will you go out with me, Langa-kun?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa sighed loud enough that Reki could hear it. “I’m sorry, Akimitsu-san, but-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki glanced up to see the girl - Akimitsu - looking right back at him, her eyebrows raised and her mouth opened in surprise. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Reki-kun.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She said it to Reki, not Langa, but Langa hadn’t seemed to notice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well…” He said, trailing off pointedly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Akimitsu’s gaze flickered between them, understanding seeming to dawn on her face. “Langa-kun, are you two…?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa huffed another sigh, staring off to the side, almost indifferently. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki stared at the back of his head, disbelieving. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was doing it again. He was using Reki as an excuse to reject this girl - who was suddenly a lot less annoying in Reki’s eyes, now that he knew she wasn’t competition. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I understand. I’ll see you around, Langa-kun,” she said, brushing past him - and heading straight towards Reki. “Bye, Reki-kun.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki could see the moment those words sunk in. He watched Langa’s back tighten, his shoulders tensing up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Reki…” Langa said quietly, turning around to face him. That innocent look on his face, something about it made Reki’s blood boil. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Why,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Reki spat out, voice like acid. “Why do you say stuff like that? Why do you let them believe it? Why don’t you correct them when they assume things like that?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa took a step back, his face a blank mask of horror. Reki clenched his trembling hands into fists, glaring harshly at the ground. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is it… so terrible?” Langa whispered, his voice breaking softly. “Is it that bad to let them think it?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah, it </span>
  <em>
    <span>really is,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Reki ground out, refusing to look up at him. “It’s a really shitty thing to do. To them, and to me.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>To you…? Reki, I don’t understand,” Langa said quietly, voice breathy. “Why would it possibly be so terrible for them to think that we’re…” he trailed off. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Why would no one say it? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Why did everyone refuse to say it out loud? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Why wouldn’t anyone </span>
  <em>
    <span>say it?!</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>It’s him, isn’t it. Your skateboarding friend. You two are…</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Langa-kun, are you two…?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Why would it possibly be so terrible for them to think that we’re…</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Why was everyone refusing to </span>
  <em>
    <span>say it?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Fine. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Fine, </span>
  </em>
  <span>then. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>If no one would. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Reki, why…?” Langa repeated, his voice cracking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And this time, Reki did look up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m in love with you,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Langa! Because I love you, and you run around using the way I feel as an excuse to reject people!” Reki yelled, trying in vain to ignore the stricken look on Langa’s face. The tears were welling up, but it was too late to stop now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I never thought I’d feel like this for another person. It’s like- Langa, it’s like I’m skating. Being in love with you feels like I’m skating at S and I’ve pulled into the lead, and I’m cruising a hundred miles an hour, and I know I’m going to win. But I’m </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>going to win, am I? It’s a losing race! I’m not going to win! None of us are going to win, because you don’t look twice at the people who confess to you!” Reki spat out, wincing at how terribly harsh he sounded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The silence that followed was deafening, filled only with Reki’s harsh, choked breathing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t even that mad. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t Langa’s fault. Well - sort of, but not enough to warrant being yelled at like this. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Reki was just crumbling, all those fragile walls he’d built, they were all tumbling down and he was powerless to stop them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa wasn’t the one to blame here. Sure, he could have handled his rejections better and not thrown Reki’s fairly obvious feelings under the bus. But Reki could have done something, too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could have stopped himself from falling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m looking at you,” Langa said softly, making Reki jump. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Reki asked. Of course Langa was looking at him - Reki had just spilled his guts out of nowhere, that was cause for some staring. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Reki, I don’t look at them, because I’m looking at </span>
  <em>
    <span>you,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Langa repeated, louder this time. “They give me letters and chocolates and kind words, and I appreciate it, sure, but they aren’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>you. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Reki, you… You taught me how to skate. You gave me my </span>
  <em>
    <span>life </span>
  </em>
  <span>back. I thought that I was </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing</span>
  </em>
  <span> without snowboarding. I thought that I would always be nothing! But you- you barged into my life and </span>
  <em>
    <span>you gave me everything. </span>
  </em>
  <span>How could it- How could it ever be anyone but you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki just stood, frozen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Langa wasn’t finished. He’d started to pace a little, running a hand through his hair. His eyes were almost frantic, in a way Reki hadn’t seen since he’d last skated in a real beef at S. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa looked like he did when he was skating. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And then, this upperclassman comes up to me and he confesses, and all I can see is that his hair is </span>
  <em>
    <span>brown </span>
  </em>
  <span>instead of </span>
  <em>
    <span>red, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and his eyes are </span>
  <em>
    <span>green </span>
  </em>
  <span>instead of </span>
  <em>
    <span>amber, </span>
  </em>
  <span>so I’m not really listening anyway,” Langa rants, his gaze flicking back up to Reki every couple of seconds. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki was still frozen, trying to make sense of the words coming out of Langa’s mouth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But then he said something, about how he should have known that you and I were… together. And we weren’t! Aren’t. But… It was stupid and I shouldn’t have done it, but… I didn’t correct him. I didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>want </span>
  </em>
  <span>to correct him. I wanted it to be true, even if it… wasn’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You…” Reki said, his voice breaking just slightly. “You want it.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Langa nodded, not quite meeting his eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You want… </span>
  <em>
    <span>me,” </span>
  </em>
  <span>Reki continued, somewhat disbelieving. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another nod. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They stared at each other for a long moment, neither of them knowing quite what to say. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Reki, I…” Langa started, taking a step forward. “I-I might not be very good at… this. At communicating, or- or talking about the deep stuff. But I want to try. I want to-” He broke off, but his eyes conveyed more than he could say. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki just nodded. “Me too. I want to try, too.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Langa replied, the corner of his mouth turning up into a smile. “Okay.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Reki repeated, his own smile pulling on his lips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa gestured vaguely at his board, then at Reki’s. “Do you still want to...? I mean, I think we have time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The small smile on Reki’s face turned into a grin. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Duh. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Do you know who I am?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa’s eyes shone. “Of course. You’re Reki.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki’s chest constricted, his heart threatening to beat out of his chest. He tried to laugh it off, popping his board up to his hand and dashing down the stairs, Langa hot on his heels. They made it to the quad where they skated in record time, and Reki took off on his board like a bullet the second he was on flat ground. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d skated maybe five feet when he braked abruptly, letting his board keep rolling slowly as he scrambled back to Langa, who hadn’t even pushed off yet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The height difference was weird - Langa was already taller than him </span>
  <em>
    <span>and </span>
  </em>
  <span>he was on a board while Reki was on the ground, but it didn’t matter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Reki cupped a hand around the back of Langa’s neck and pulled him down, meeting him halfway by pushing up onto his toes and pressing their lips together in an awkward, fumbled kiss. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Langa gasped above him, startling so hard that the board below him jerked, making Langa lose his balance and sending both of them toppling to the ground in a tangle of limbs and laughter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll get better,” Langa said through his snorts of laughter. Reki just wheezed on top of him, dropping his head onto Langa’s chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll have to practice,” Reki said, his voice muffled by Langa’s shirt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If it’s anything like skating, I think I’ll be okay with that.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>—————</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Kyan Reki had never been confessed to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But, he has confessed to someone else. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Only once, and that was all that was needed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were no love letters or chocolates. In fact, it was mostly yelling and some crying - on both sides. But, somehow, it had been perfect. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kyan Reki had never been confessed to, but that didn’t bother him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hasegawa Langa still got confessed to sometimes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bold girls, dumb guys, new kids. They tried their hand with the elusive pretty boy skater, giving him meaningless declarations of passion and love, despite only having spoken to him twice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But it was a lot harder to confess to someone who was holding hands with his boyfriend. Reki would give them a smile - sometimes sympathetic, sometimes victorious. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Because Langa had already been confessed to by the one he was waiting for. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Reki wasn’t planning on letting him go. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i’m a little nervous about my characterization - i was late to this show, and i binged all the episodes that are out in one go? so my grasp on these characters may not be the best, but i hope it’s not unreadable. </p><p>leave a comment if you want! it can be about the fic, or about how much you love sk8, or whatever you want, it’s just nice to interact with people :D</p><p>(or if you want to really interact with me, come hang out with me on <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/zukushou">twitter</a> where i scream a lot about tododeku, a little about renga, and a bit about kagehina, but beware of bnha manga spoilers!!)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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